Get some greens into ya: Spanakopita

God bless Instagram stories for its ability to take me (for waaaaaaaay longer than it should) to beautiful places all around the world, into people’s homes and wardrobes, gardens and my all time favourite: THE KITCHEN. One of my good friend’s Ruth aka Gourmet Girlfriend is always an inspiration to me and her stories always make me want to do better: whether it’s reading, listening to music or cooking something delicious for my family, it’s a place where I take lots of inspiration from. If only I could stop watching the mindless and endless stories of so many others that I follow…man is it a rabbit hole!

Last week I saw that she was making her family an old favourite of mine that I haven’t made in AGES…Spanakopita. I do different variations of this but rarely make a whole family size because GREEN. But I was determined to make it because I adore it and knew that if that’s what was on the table for dinner then they would have no choice. Plus it would make sure I had lunch made for the week ahead!

This is perfect hot out of the oven, warm, room temperature or cold in a lunchbox and reheats beautifully just in the microwave for lunch the next day. I served it for dinner with home made chunky lemony chips and a shredded iceberg salad with a vinaigrette. YUM. I could eat this kind of stuff every night…if only my family were so accommodating.

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees and chop the onion, garlic and prepare the silverbeet by cutting the leaves off the stems and rolling and chopping

2. Fry off the onion and garlic until transparent in some olive oil then add in the silverbeet. I put a lid on to steam after a few minutes, turn off the heat and let wilt

3. Into a bowl add in the eggs, crumbled fetta, grated parmesan, pepper and nutmeg and mix until combined (I didn’t have enough fetta so added in some ricotta I had)

4. Roughly chop the dill and add that into the egg mix

5. Add in the spinach mix to the egg mix and set aside

6. Now you need to prepare the pastry. Take the filo pastry out of the packet and make sure you keep a tea towel over it so it doesn’t dry out. Melt your butter and brush each sheet of pastry with it before placing another sheet on top. You need to do 10 sheets before adding in the mixture and then 10 sheets on top. Place some sesame seeds on top and place into the oven to bake for 45 minutes

I would leave it to sit for a little while before serving: we pulled it out piping hot and there was a little liquid that would have soaked up had I left it a little while. But verdict? YUM. I mean it’s buttery pastry, how can you go wrong with it?

I ate the rest of this myself over the week for lunch (but if you had adventurous kids for lunch it would be perfect for lunchboxes too).

Directions

Preheat oven to 175 degrees and chop the onion, garlic and prepare the silverbeet by cutting the leaves off the stems and rolling and chopping

Step 2

Fry off the onion and garlic until transparent in some olive oil then add in the silverbeet. I put a lid on to steam after a few minutes, turn off the heat and let wilt

Step 3

Into a bowl add in the eggs, crumbled fetta, grated parmesan, pepper and nutmeg and mix until combined (I didn't have enough fetta so added in some ricotta I had)

Step 4

Roughly chop the dill and add that into the egg mix

Step 5

Add in the spinach mix to the egg mix and set aside

Step 6

Now you need to prepare the pastry. Take the filo pastry out of the packet and make sure you keep a tea towel over it so it doesn't dry out. Melt your butter and brush each sheet of pastry with it before placing another sheet on top. You need to do 10 sheets before adding in the mixture and then 10 sheets on top. Place some sesame seeds on top and place into the oven to bake for 45 minutes

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I am Beth. Just Beth. Although as I have moved to the country I am considering changing my name to Bev. Because I’ve won a blue ribbon at the local show and EVERYTHING. But I guess that’s fast forwarding a little. As Coldplay said, let’s go back to the start.. More about me.